Path of Hatred
by mortalone
Summary: Watch Naruto’s growth in the aftermath of Wave, finding power through hatred. Can love save him or will he fall down a darker road? Plot divergence.
1. Rejection

**Summary:** Watch Naruto's growth in the aftermath of Wave, finding power through hatred. Can love save him? Plot divergence.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto. It is owned by Kishimoto Masashi and published by Jump Comics.

**Warning:** This story is rated T for violence, language and potential sexual situations.

**Feedback:** You can review anonymously. Please feel free to give me your input through review or private message. I read all the feedback I get. I only ask that you do not make demands and do not flame.

"Character speech"

'_Character thoughts'_

"**Demon or large summon speech or jutsu name announced"**

'_**Demon or large summon thoughts or jutsu name thought'**_

**AN: For my fans, don't worry about NotS, because I **_**WILL**_** update it soon. Some people are worried that it's abandoned, but in truth I had finals, then I had to pack to come home from school for the summer, then I got sick, and I have people working on my house, and… you get the idea. Chapter 5 is almost finished, probably 75 to 80 percent there. I actually wrote this story awhile ago, but I decided to come back to it recently, so I touched it up some and published it.**

**Most of my story ideas are AU, mainly because I like stories that deal more with the demon magic aspect of the Naruto world. This story is a bit of an exception. Kyuubi will be his usual evil self, but Naruto will develop differently and tension will ignite conflict among Team 7. There is some Team 7 bashing, but I'm trying not to take it over the top like most people do, portraying Sasuke as a total psychopath, Sakura as his private tramp, and Kakashi as a delirious fan-boy. Basically, I'm trying to keep it as real as possible while still focusing on the negative character traits of those individuals.**

_**A lot of the dialogue in this chapter is actually **__**canon**_**, even if the way I portray the characters gives a grim outlook.**

**But there's a second aspect to this story, that's more of an "underneath the underneath" cheap shot at Kishimoto. Supposedly, true power comes from love in the Naruto world, but it seems to me that the strongest characters in the Naruto world are those that draw their power for hatred. The biggest contrast can be made between Sasuke and Naruto. At the VotE fight, they were both on fairly even ground, with Sasuke a bit stronger still. In part 2 of the manga, Sasuke is portrayed as being vastly superior.**

**I won't say that people are strongest when they are like Gaara, killing simply for pleasure, but I think that Naruto would be far stronger if he'd seek power rather than attention, drawing in on his own hatred to give him strength then looking outside for love. That doesn't mean he won't find love. In this story, he will still be protective of the ones he loves, but he will learn to channel his hatred for others towards becoming strong, to acquire power.**

**As I said, I aim for a degree of realism, so don't expect Naruto's skill to go up dramatically overnight. Sasuke is still stronger than Naruto and will be for a little longer.**

XXXXX

**Path of Hatred**

**Chapter 1 – Rejection**

XXXXX

"Sasuke-kun, how about a date when we get back?" Hearts filled Sakura's eyes as she asked him, her hands cupped together pleadingly, her feet twisting inwardly and her shoulders somewhat drawn in, subtly hinting at her insecurity.

Amidst the chorus of shouts of "good bye" from the villagers of Wave Country, Sasuke's quiet voice was just loud enough to be heard, though from the tone it was clear that the lack of volume did not correspond to a lack of resolve. "No thanks."

Sakura's shoulders drooped as she was yet again shot down. She had asked him out literally every day she had seen him for over a year now, but it was never easier for her to take the rejection. "B-but…" she mumbled out, unable to even finish her thoughts.

Of course, the loud and hyperactive hero, whose name was to be given to the very bridge he was walking on – though he did not yet know – hoped yet again for his chance to win Sakura's heart in the face of her rejection. Seemingly full of confidence, he asked, "Hey, hey?! How about me!?" Perhaps today she would finally give up on Sasuke…

"No!! Shut up, Naruto!" Sakura huffed and walked off, leaving Naruto to let his shoulders drop. It would have been comical if it were not so sad; the weight of insecurity that moments ago hung onto Sakura's shoulders seemed to jump off onto Naruto's instead. Entirely, unnoticed by his compatriots, a single tear dropped from his right eye.

'_When will it be my turn? Even now… no, she almost seems colder now…'_ he thought, unable to suppress the chill that ran down his spine at that revelation; she blamed him for Sasuke's short-coming. She was worried that Sasuke was forever gone and her unbidden love never to be returned. It struck a nerve to realize how truly insignificant his feelings were in her eyes.

Naruto recalled the events of the fight earlier.

XXX Flashback XXX

The mist had begun to clear. Haku had jumped in to save Zabuza from Kakashi's **Raikiri **(Lightning Edge) at the cost of his life; meanwhile Zabuza had stopped pouring his chakra into making the mist.

Seeing Naruto safe brought hope to his pink-haired teammate – if Naruto was alright, then she wasn't alone. And more importantly, if Naruto was alright, so was Sasuke...

Sakura yelled out, "Naruto!! You're alright!!"

Finally, Naruto felt like he was receiving recognition from his teammate and crush. _'Sakura-chan…'_ he thought warmly. She was beginning to acknowledge him, or so it seemed.

"Huh," she asked, "what about Sasuke-kun?" Naruto stiffened. Sasuke was dead. How could he tell her? What would she say? Would she hate him? "Naruto!! Where is Sasuke-kun?!"

Naruto grimaced and tried to fight back the tears welling up in his eyes for his fallen teammate. Sakura's hopeful expression began to fade. She shook, fighting back the sobs, hoping that no harm had come to him.

Tazuna placed a hand around hers reassuringly, "I'll go with you. Then you won't be breaking your sensei's orders."

"Okay," she said softly, and then she and Tazuna dashed past Naruto, Sakura not sparing him a glance.

When she found his body, all she could bring herself to do was cry.

XXX End Flashback XXX

Naruto remembered how she had been so relieved when Sasuke had stirred.

XXX Flashback XXX

Tears streamed down Sakura's face as she sobbed, barely even hearing Sasuke's voice say, "Sakura… you're heavy..."

As soon as she realized that Sasuke had indeed spoken and that it was not an illusion, a single word escaped her mouth repeatedly, "Sasuke-kun!! Sasuke-kun!! Sasuke-kun! WAAAAAAAH!"

She thought she had lost him and her love had not prevailed. Even with Naruto alive, without Sasuke, on Team Seven she would always truly feel alone. With those thoughts in mind, she dove onto him, hugging him tightly. In his weakened state, he tried in vain to push her off, wincing at the pressure her body placed upon the senbon needles still stuck within him. "Sakura, that hurts…"

"Ah, sorry," she yelled, suddenly pulling up off him and blushing embarrassedly.

Sasuke sat up. "What about…" he asked, then he coughed lightly due to dried blood making his throat uncomfortable and Sakura moved in a silent fuss to help him without interrupting him, causing him to silently push her back before continuing, "Naruto? And that… masked kid?"

"Don't move," Sakura yelled out, as Sasuke tried to get up further, trying to keep him from opening up anymore wounds. "Naruto is fine! And that masked kid is dead…"

Sasuke froze as if caught in one of Haku's techniques, his eyes widening. "Dead? Did Naruto kill him?"

"N-no," Sakura stuttered, unsure exactly, but not believing Naruto could defeat such a foe when Sasuke failed. "I'm not sure, but he protected Zabuza."

Sasuke relaxed a bit, feeling relieved; he was glad his "death" was not in vain, yet at the same time any jealousy that crept up in the back of his mind was brutally forced back down as he cleared all thoughts from his head about Naruto being able to do _that_. "I see…"

Sakura's mood suddenly shifted. "I had complete faith in you," she said, hands clasped together and a blush adorning her cheeks. "It's impressive that you prevented attacks to your critical areas!"

Sasuke's face darkened somewhat, realizing that Haku had done the same thing to him as was done to Zabuza, putting him into a "near-death" state. "No…" Sasuke replied, but it fell on deaf ears.

Sakura suddenly stood up. If one of her female friends were here, she would be chatting up a storm about Sasuke's greatness, but without any of them and with Tazuna being an old man, there was only one option: Naruto.

"Naruto," she shrieked excitedly. "He's alright! Sasuke-kun is alive!"

Sasuke hid his face, but waved his arm coolly. Naruto was too caught up in relief to be bothered by Sasuke getting all of Sakura's attention. It was just because he was the injured one, right? He wanted to believe that, but her actions spoke differently. The seeds of doubt that she'd ever be able to think of him the same way as Sasuke had already been planted.

XXX End Flashback XXX

Naruto was unusually quiet as the team traveled through the forest back towards Konoha. They were going at an unusually slow pace, which usually allowed for conversation, but Naruto wasn't saying anything.

Not that his team seemed to mind. Kakashi was somewhat worried for his student, but at the same time he was hoping Naruto would learn to be quiet like this all the time. Besides, Kakashi was enjoying this new found peace. _'Keigo moaned as Kaeda worked her way down his chest, unbuttoning Keigo's shirt and then kissing that area. She worked her way lower and lower, finally getting to the top of his pants. Hastily she unbuckled his belt, then unbuttoned his pants and with her teeth began dragging the zipper down. Pulling the material down –'_

"Sasuke-kuuuun," the pink one whined.

Okay, so maybe Naruto wasn't the only loud one. Well, at least the pink one followed the rules and would not waste time and energy trying to argue with Sasuke. Had Naruto followed Sasuke's lead, maybe Sasuke wouldn't have been put into a near-death position by Haku. Sasuke had known better than Naruto, that they should not both allow themselves to be trapped within the mirrors, which he openly yelled at Naruto for back on the bridge. Nevertheless, Kakashi would have to pull Naruto aside to talk about that; though all had gone well in the end, had it been anyone other than Haku in that position, Sasuke would surely have been dead.

'_Can't let that happen; it would be an insult to Obito's memory. I'm going to have to start training again,'_ he thought grimly.

Meanwhile, Naruto was having different thoughts. He was starting to wonder why he had always chased after Sakura. She was beautiful, but there were other girls even better looking, Ino among them. She was smart, but more of a nerdy book-smart type than a clever trickster type like Naruto – _'if I can call myself clever at all.'_ He frowned at that train of thought. Shaking his head he realized, _'No, I won't become Hokage if I doubt myself.'_

But that raised another issue. _'Do I really want to become Hokage? Why? For acknowledgement? But the Hokage isn't just the strongest in the village. Even I know that.'_ Naruto recalled that almost every time he entered Sandaime's office, the man was doing paperwork of some sort.

Shaking his head again he cleared his thoughts. _'Has Sakura-chan's opinion of me changed? Am I still 'annoying'? Why always Sasuke? Her eyes say it all…'_

XXX Flashback XXX

Naruto sat next to Sakura on a park bench, henge'd into Sasuke. He wanted to know what it was that made Sasuke "so cool." Why did all the girls always want Sasuke? He would always shun them anyway, so why did they continue chasing after him? Did they truly think he was just shy about love when he wasn't at all shy about anything else?

"Sakura," he said, "there's something I want to ask you."

Too immersed with her own thoughts of love she asked, "Huh?"

Now came what he wanted to find out. "What do you think of Naruto?"

She glared at the ground in front of the bench, anger floating just beneath the surface. "He's always getting in the way of my love and he seems to enjoy seeing me struggle. Naruto doesn't understand anything about me, he's just annoying. All I want is for you to acknowledge me."

The words rang through his head like dozens of church bells sounding just over his head. His eyes widened imperceptibly, but in Sakura's love struck stupor, she was far too entranced in her own feelings to notice the true feelings of 'Sasuke,' or rather, Naruto, in front of her.

"I'm serious," she breathed out, a blush now adorning her cheeks. Shyly, she tilted her head down somewhat, looking up into his eyes from underneath, a magic sparkle of hope and dirty innocence glistening from within them. "I would do anything." Her shoulders drew in, hinting at her poorly veiled insecurity yet giving her a cuter image all the same. "Because I like you…"

As she leaned in for a kiss, Naruto's mouth hung somewhat open and his eyes were as wide as saucers, a slight blush adorning his cheeks as he realized, _'I finally understand why I like her… in a way, she's like me.'_

XXX End Flashback XXX

'_But she isn't like me,'_ he realized with a frown. _'She wants to be acknowledged and she's also loud like me… seeking attention. But, beyond that… she's the one who doesn't understand me.'_

That gave Naruto a thought. _'Does she still see me the same way?'_

"Hey, Sakura," he suddenly called out, "I was wondering –"

"No! I won't go on a date with you. You're annoying," she said firmly, agitation and even a venomous undertone laced into her words. It seemed very much the same as before, possibly even worse. Normally he would just dismiss it and say that, "She is having a bad day," but he couldn't help to feel that these were her true feelings.

'_That answers that,'_ he realized grimly. Barely in a whisper, "I wasn't going to ask," escaped his lips.

However, with Sasuke brooding on his loss to Haku, replaying those events from earlier in his mind, and with Sakura trying to get Sasuke to go on a date, only Kakashi heard the comment.

'_Good, that should help improve the team's dynamic,'_ Kakashi thought, not realizing that it would have the exactly the opposite effect. _'Maybe I'll have my talk with Naruto tonight. He seems to have grown enough to hear this.'_ With that in mind, Kakashi went back to focusing on his book, relying on his highly developed senses to pick up any possible threats in the area, though there were none.

Naruto walked on silently, pondering this turn of events.

XXXXX

When the team set up camp, Kakashi specifically chose to take first watch along with Naruto, who said nothing to refuse. Sakura jumped up and screamed, "Yatta!" Sasuke just made a grunting noise that sounded vaguely like "hn" before unrolling his sleeping bag. Naruto positioned himself in a tree, clearly lost in thought.

"_You're annoying." _

The words Sakura spoke earlier still rung through Naruto's mind. _'Always me, always me, well maybe she's the one who's annoying.'_ Out of the corner of his eye he glared at her coldly as she used a mirror and the light from the fire to fix her hair. _'She's just going to mess it up when she sleeps.'_ His eyes hardened, then softened again. _'Damn it, why does she have to be so pretty? I'm bad at hating people,'_ he realized.

Naruto sighed and leaned his head back; he did not know what to think – life was confusing, and his own actions seemed to make it even more so. _'It only makes sense if you don't think about it,'_ he thought grimly.

He turned to look back at the camp; Sakura was already asleep and Sasuke had fallen asleep long ago. He wasn't sure how much time had passed, though based on the decay of the timber for their campfire, at least half an hour,

It was at this time that Kakashi decided to make his move. "Yo, Naruto, got a minute?"

Naruto did not reply for a moment, instead merely staring out into the darkness, then tilting his head upwards to look at the stars. "I guess."

"It's good that you aren't so loud, but are you feeling okay? Any problems with the seal?" Kakashi sounded so nonchalant and even a tad lethargic, but the meaning of the question was very clear. The unspoken words seemed to reach Naruto on the wind: "Are you a danger?"

"No. No, I just…" Naruto's mouth opened and closed several times as a part of him felt the need to scream out his problems, but would that really get him anywhere? With all the noise he made, even after spending so long on Team Seven he had changed nothing. "Never mind, I'm just feeling a little down, that's all."

Kakashi eyed him skeptically for a moment before nodding. He started utilizing the tree walking ability to move to another location, but stopped for a moment. "You know, orange is not the best color to wear on the field. The basics of a ninja are to hide yourself well. You need to learn to think before you act. Against any other opponent, the most likely outcome at the bridge would have been Sasuke's death. A good shinobi would recognize that scenario as an obvious trap that should have been dismantled both from the inside and the outside." Kakashi then strode off into the darkness, satisfied that his words would finally be able to get through Naruto's carefree shell.

Naruto watched Kakashi's retreating back. The words seemed to play over and over in Naruto's mind. _"A good shinobi would recognize… The basics of a ninja are to hide yourself… You need to learn to think before you act… the most likely outcome at the bridge would have been Sasuke's _death_…"_

Naruto scowled as his emotions ran wild. Anger, hurt, confusion, sadness… these emotions and others all fought for dominance over Naruto's heart. A heat seemed to well up from Naruto's stomach until his anger seemed to overcome all the other emotions. With that anger he felt strength. His eyes shut and his fists clenched.

"_I didn't think you would freeze like that."_

'_Kakashi-sensei…'_

"_Are you alright… scaredy cat?"_

'_Sasuke…'_

"_Naruto doesn't understand anything about me, he's just annoying."_

'_Sakura…'_

"_Hey, that kid… the only one who failed…"_

"_Good… We can't have him being a shinobi…"_

"_You are the demon fox!"_

Fiery red orbs snapped open, piercing through the night. Black slits for pupils focused their killing intent out towards the vast emptiness the darkness provided.

Naruto stood then slammed a clenched fist into the tree he was sitting at, shaking it violently and knocking off whole chunks of wood. He jumped down then stalked off into the night.

Over the top of his book, Kakashi merely watched lazily before going back to reading as soon as Naruto was out of sight. He was barely concerned… though he would have been had he caught a glimpse of Naruto's face.

XXXXX

Naruto crashed through the forest, not caring one bit if he scared away animals or attracted other people. Chakra flared about him and his blood red eyes gleamed with hatred that would freeze even a seasoned shinobi. It was… _unnatural_.

Naruto's fist slammed into a tree, cutting halfway through its trunk. Sap mixed with blood and started to sting. He winced and drew his hand out, eyeing curiously how a strange red chakra was healing his wounds at a prodigious rate. _'Kyuubi…'_

Naruto closed his eyes and turned his face towards the stars, opening round blue orbs towards the heavens. Tears streamed down his face. _'Haku, if you saw me now, what would you say? Does power truly come protecting those you love? You died Haku… you died protecting Zabuza. Why?'_

Naruto raised a sleeve and wiped away at the tears. _'I don't think I entirely understand you my friend, but you and I are different. I was given this burden and… through my hatred I seem to become strong. Perhaps some day I will understand what it means to protect someone you love, but… for now, I must acquire power.'_

"_You're a bit off."_

'_Kakashi-sensei…'_

"_Who's going to acknowledge you?"_

'_Mizuki-teme…'_

"_Dobe."_

'_Sasuke…'_

"_Listen Naruto, I'm going to explain it simply. Somehow try to remember it with that slow brain of yours."_

'_Sakura…'_

"_YOU FAIL!"_

'_Iruka-sensei…'_

"_Monster."_

"_Demon."_

"_Why won't he just _die_?"_

Naruto's fists clenched. _'I will become strong! I will acquire power!'_

Naruto's right hand shot to his kunai pouch and with it he grabbed a Kunai. His left palm slammed into a tree. Blood splattered everywhere as Naruto impaled his left hand with the kunai in his right. _'I swear by this pain that I will become strong. I swear that I will think through every situation and do what's best for me. Through my hatred for those who hurt me and for all the times I've been hurt, I will become the greatest shinobi ever.'_

XXXXX

"Team Seven, report," the old Hokage commanded. Normally, a full report given directly to the Hokage is not necessary to conclude a mission; however, being the first C-rank mission of Team Seven, it was necessary that Kakashi give a formal report in front of his team, demonstrating proper protocol.

Kakashi stepped forward. "During our escort to Nami no Kuni (Wave Country), we encountered two sets of missing-nin both working for the same organization. The first was a pair of chuunin from the Mist known as the 'Demon Brothers,' who after subduing, we left for the ANBU to take in for questioning. We ran into an unexpected complication when Naruto froze during the action and received a poisoned wound to the hand." Sandaime grimaced and Naruto frowned at the remark against him, though neither interrupted.

Kakashi continued, "At first I was going to have the team return to Konoha as the completion of the mission was no longer necessary, but Naruto used his own kunai to extract the poison. I was at first worried that Naruto would pass out or die from blood loss, but the injury he sustained was not as bad as it first appeared." Kakashi lied, and Sandaime right away saw through it, but with the other members of Team Sewven in the room, he was by no means going to reprimand Kakashi; the secret was greater than the value of the information contained in Kakashi's report.

"Though at that point the mission no longer was necessary due to the client lying about the rank of the mission, we continued because of our client's inability to pay for a higher ranking mission combined with the status of Nami no Kuni at that time." Kakashi paused his speech to let the Hokage acknowledge the change in mission parameters. Sandaime puffed on his pipe and then nodded.

Kakashi continued, "After questioning our client about why he lied about the nature of the mission, we discovered that the organization responsible for the attacks on our client was the Gatou Shipping Company, thus we prepared for the possibility of encountering higher level shinobi."

Kakashi opened his mouth to speak more, but this time was interrupted by Sandaime. "And you didn't request for help?"

Kakashi smiled and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I did not think help would be given. The most likely outcome would be that you would call us back. We were no longer obligated to continue, and the situation in Wave would have only worsened."

Kakashi waited for Sandaime to nod before continuing with his report. "To avoid detection, we entered Nami no Kuni by means of a row boat. Not long after entering the country we were attacked by the jounin missing-nin Momochi Zabuza of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. Zabuza managed to momentarily capture me, but Naruto and Sasuke managed to come up with a plan that freed me, allowing me to finish the battle by defeating Zabuza. Afterwards, a Kiri (Mist) hunter-nin finished Zabuza off using senbon. However, since the hunter-nin did not dispose of the body on the spot, we arrived to the conclusion that the supposed hunter-nin was a fake in league with Zabuza. While recovering from the battle, I trained my team in improved chakra control so that they could help in the upcoming battle. At dawn on the seventh day, the team minus Naruto headed to the bridge."

Sandaime raised an eyebrow. Filling in the answer to the unspoken question, Kakashi hastily added, "Naruto slept in late recovering from training." Sandaime furrowed his brow; standard mission protocol dictated that unless Naruto was badly injured or incapacitated that he would be woken to join his team. Sandaime had the distinct impression that Kakashi regarded Naruto as a wildcard that could either help or hurt the mission.

Kakashi, however, continued in his report, ignoring the unasked questions that played through his leader's head. "When we arrived at the bridge, we found it shrouded by a thick mist and the workmen badly beaten. Zabuza and the hunter-nin, referred to as Haku, walked out of the mist side-by-side, revealing that they truly were working together from the start. Zabuza revealed that Haku observed the first battle to determine the weaknesses of the Sharingan. Haku and Sasuke engaged each other while I focused my attention on Zabuza and Sakura remained as a last defense for Tazuna. Haku was revealed to carry a bloodline limit as he used one-handed seals to freeze water in ice shards."

Sandaime raised his brow again, impressed by Haku's display of chakra control. Indeed, it was possible to perform jutsu with one hand or even no hands at all, but the level of chakra manipulation required to do so would be substantial and impossible for most individuals, including him. In fact the last person Sandaime knew who was able to perform techniques without using his hands was none other than… _'Uchiha Itachi…'_

"However," Kakashi continued, only mildly amused with Sandaime's impressed visage, "since Sasuke was able to match Haku in speed, Haku utilized his bloodline to make mirrors of ice, which he traveled between to through senbons at Sasuke. I was unable to help because of Zabuza's presence, but relief came when Naruto arrived, though that relief was somewhat short-lived when Naruto chose to enter the dome of mirrors as well."

Naruto glared angrily at the floor, wanting to speak up to defend himself, but feeling strangely unable. More and more he felt his hatred building until…

"…the seal seemed to weaken." For Naruto, time seemed to stop as he was yet again reminded of the link between himself and that infernal fox. Yet again Naruto realized that his entire life would be held under scrutiny, even long after those around him were on "friendly" terms with him.

As Kakashi spoke those words, he noticed Sandaime's eyes imperceptibly widen and a brief trace of anger flashed in his old, wizened eyes. Kakashi knew he would be reamed out later for even saying that much in the meeting, but he purposely remained aloof, so as to keep his other two subordinates from discovering the truth literally an arms length away.

Sasuke and Sakura of course both looked at him quizzically, but missing Sandaime's expression and ignoring Naruto as per usual, they thought little of it.

In his normal lazy drawl, only slightly more attentive sounding for formality's sake, Kakashi just continued the aloof act. "I decided the end the fight with Zabuza quickly and used summons to pin him in place as I charged a **Raikiri** (Lightning Edge). A mirror materialized next to Zabuza and Haku stepped out, taking the blow instead. At this point the summons were dispelled due to senbons hitting them, presumably thrown before Haku teleported. Zabuza continued to attack with his sword, but his attacks were wilder and sloppier and I was able to stab both his upper arms, making them useless. At this point the battle was brought to a close as Gatou appeared.

"An army of thugs accompanied Gatou to the bridge with the intent of killing not only us, but Zabuza as well. Gatou then went to defile Haku's remains by kicking his body. At this time, Naruto gave a speech to Zabuza that caused him to take action. Using one of Naruto's kunai, Zabuza attacked the thugs and managed to kill Gatou before he was defeated. The thugs wanted to raid the town to make-up for the loss of income Gatou provided, but the villagers came out and backed us, driving away the thugs without anymore casualties being had. Haku and Zabuza were then buried on top of a hill over-looking the village. Shortly after, the bridge was completed and we left to return to Konoha without incident," Kakashi concluded.

The Sandaime's normally sharp eyes seemed to glaze over for a second as he was lost in thought. Suddenly, his eyes sharpened again and met Kakashi's. "Very well, good work Team Seven. Dismissed."

Sasuke just turned and walked off, planning his training regimen. Sakura turned to follow him and glanced back at Kakashi and Sandaime once before chasing after him. Kakashi disappeared with an audible "poof," heading to the bookstore to purchase the latest of the Icha Icha series, which he had yet to lay his fingers on. But it was none of these actions that concerned Sandaime.

What concerned Sandaime was the look of loneliness in Naruto's eyes as he raised them from the floor to meet Sandaime's own eyes. Sandaime's old face softened. He was Sarutobi, known throughout the shinobi world as Sandaime Hokage, "the Professor," and even hailed as the "God of Shinobi," felt at a loss as he was again reminded of his greatest failing yet – greater even than failing to kill Orochimaru when he had the chance.

XXXXX

**AN: In this chapter, I both character bashed the other members of Team 7 yet I managed to keep them very close to canon via dropping in actual quotes out of context. For instance, Kakashi said, "The basics of a ninja are to hide yourself well," during the bell test. **

**And yes, "WAAAAAAAAAH," was an actual Sakura line in canon. God I hate part 1 Sakura. Part 2 Sakura is actually good and I do like her, but I truly hate part 1 Sakura. I also hate how Kishi didn't show us enough to justify her development as a character between parts 1 and 2.**

**Naruto's characterization has changed dramatically. He's going to start being more introspective. He's going to try to think before he acts. He's going to start drawing power from hatred.**

**He's not going to be an angsty emo kid like Sasuke already is. No, Naruto still loves people, but from now on, he inherently distrusts people he's not familiar with. Also, his hatred is going to get channeled into his training and his desire for power. He will go much further, even consciously turning to Kyuubi before he ever meets Jiraiya.**

**Naruto's ****pairing**** has already been ****CHOSEN.**** I will gladly take romantic criticism but I will ignore anyone who tries to convince me to change the pairing. The pairing is non-negotiable. For the time being, I want that pairing to remain a surprise. Though, I will say this, it's an uncommon pairing, but not FemKyu (that's my favorite fanon pairing so I felt I had to clarify).**

XXXXX

**If all goes well, I intend for this story to be part 1 of a 3 part series. This part, Path of Hatred, follows the canon part 1 plotline fairly closely in terms of arcs, with the major difference being in Naruto's characterization. This part will end after the Sasuke retrieval arc.**

**Should I choose to continue this story afterwards, Part 2 will be called "Path of Revenge." It will actually be Sasuke-centric (gasp!), though I may end up splitting "screen time" between Sasuke and Naruto. I know a lot of you out there hate Sasuke, but don't hold it against me that Sasuke will be the "star" of part 2 – he will NOT be a good guy. Naruto in this story isn't all lovey-dovey and so he doesn't have that influence on Sasuke that Orochimaru was talking about in canon.**

**In other words, the lead character of part 2 would be a bad guy.**

**Part 3's name is undecided but it will most likely be "Path of the Shinobi," though I may ditch the whole "Path of" deal and just call it "The Shinobi Way." Part 3 would be a mix of Naruto-centric and Konohamaru-centric.**

**So, if I see this project through in its entirety, you'll see a trend from light to dark to light again as is the case in most trilogies (LotR and Star Wars would be obvious examples).**


	2. The Name Jinchuuriki

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto. It is owned by Kishimoto Masashi and published by Jump Comics.

**Warning:** This story is rated T for violence, language and potential sexual situations.

**Feedback:** You can review anonymously. Please feel free to give me your input through review or private message. I read all the feedback I get. I only ask that you do not make demands and do not flame.

"Character speech"

'_Character thoughts'_

"**Demon or large summon speech or jutsu name announced"**

'_**Demon or large summon thoughts or jutsu name thought'**_

XXXXX

**Path of Hatred**

**Chapter 2 – The Name "Jinchuuriki"**

XXXXX

At a counter in a local ramen stand, a blond haired boy sat on a stool. He was short; his feet did not nearly meet the floor. What was most remarkable about this boy was that despite being a shinobi, as was made clear by the hitai-ate he proudly wore, he was dressed in a bright orange jumpsuit. Shinobi are known for stealth, a skill that this boy would never hope to master while wearing such bright colors.

Anyone from Konoha could easily recognize the boy just by the outfit – an outfit worn to attract attention in search of acknowledgment – which was usually accompanied by a broad, foxy grin. Yet, anyone from Konoha should easily have been able to tell that something was wrong with the boy. His eyes were dead; his lips were bent into a frown. For the first time in his life, Uzumaki Naruto felt truly hopeless, and despite the cheery colors he wore, he looked the part as well. Sadly, only three people in Konoha could see this.

"What's wrong? I haven't seen you in a while." The voice of the chef called out to Naruto. It was neither loud nor soft, but it was one of four voices in the village that Naruto knew reflected genuine concern for his well being. Konohamaru would have been the fifth if not for the fact that to him, Naruto carried an aura of invincibility.

"Eh… I just got back from a mission…" Naruto's normally loud voice almost whispered back. For the chef who had known Naruto for quite sometime, as he was one of the few shopkeepers in Konoha who would not rip the boy off and thus found frequent business from said boy, it was quite unnerving to hear Naruto say anything at all that wasn't a shout. The chef stirred some ramen, spreading the spices into the broth, silently thankful that he could hear his daughter move closer to Naruto; the chef himself was never good with sentimental moments.

"A mission?" Ayame's inquiry seemed innocent enough, but the subtle waver in her voice revealed concern. "Underneath the underneath" as Kakashi might have said, Ayame's question sought the truth: what did Naruto see in the field?

"Ano… am I annoying?" The chef and his daughter were surprised by the abruptness of the inquiry, but both masked their surprise effectively.

With a scowl and an indignant tone, Ayame asked, "Who said that?"

Naruto sighed, not saying anything for a moment, unable to even look Ayame in the eye. Finally Naruto whispered out, "My teammates think so…"

Ayame reached out with her left hand, cupping it around Naruto's far cheek, tilting his head to meet her eyes with his. With a tone of finality she said, "Well _I_ don't."

Naruto could barely restrain his surprise from the conviction of her words; even if Naruto had discovered the hard way that his teammates would not acknowledge him, _someone_ cared, and for Naruto, that made all the difference.

Suddenly a bowl was placed on the counter. "Ayame," the ramen chef's voice called out.

The unspoken question was answered. "Right!" Grabbing the bowl, Ayame placed it in front of Naruto, who happily noticed that the old chef loaded it with the best ingredients available.

Staring at the bowl, Naruto couldn't help but see the truth. _'That's right, there are still people that care… Ayame, old man Ichiraku, old man Hokage, Iruka-sensei and Konohamaru…' _Naruto's voice gained some renewed strength. "Thank you old man, thank you Ayame-chan!"

Naruto grabbed the chopsticks, separating them widely. His mouth opened in preparation to call out his battle cry on the field of ramen digestion. But before he could cry out, he felt something warm on his cheek. _'A kiss!'_ Even if it was only on the cheek, it was the first time that Naruto had ever been kissed – disregarding Sasuke for obvious reasons – and one of the few times that anyone showed physical affection towards him. Naruto's face reddened as Ayame giggled and the old chef chuckled.

With a shout, Naruto called out for all of Konoha to hear, "Itadakimasu!"

Even as he devoured the bowl of ramen given on the house, Naruto realized, _'Even if I find my way through hatred, I don't have to be alone.'_

XXXXX

Naruto approached the bridge Team Seven used as a meeting place wordlessly. No longer was he smiling; his face was held deep in a thoughtful expression as he pondered his training regimen, though he awarded it that title dubiously since there was hardly any regularity to it. To be more precise, the only regular parts were his meals… ramen… at the same time… on every day.

Sasuke's thoughts weren't entirely off the mark. He had been surprised by "the Dobe's" thoughtful expression, but shrugged it off as said "Dobe" thinking about ramen flavors. Naruto's thoughts about ramen, however, were only in determining at about what time he should eat his meals and how much time he should dedicate to training as well as what time slots he should utilize.

Sakura was also surprised by Naruto's expression, but she merely felt glad that he was not hounding her for affection just this once. She had been spending her time pining for Sasuke, as per usual, and she continued doing so again now that she knew Naruto would not bother her. Yet, despite being supposedly the most intelligent student from her class, Sakura failed to realize that she was doing to Sasuke exactly what Naruto had always done to her except that she had taken her feelings to the next level and perhaps even the level beyond that. In truth, her perceptions of what "Sasuke-kun" wanted were what ruled almost every detail about her life, from the length of her hair to the diet she kept, despite the little nourishment it provided her for training.

The group continued sitting like this for over two hours. One might ask why they would not simply show up late knowing the tardiness, or lack thereof, of their sensei, but if they planned to arrive when Kakashi would actually show up, the tardy sensei would simply delay an additional two hours. In short, this time was spent needlessly on a daily basis.

Normally, "needlessly" meant that Sakura would pine over Sasuke and Naruto would pine over Sakura causing Sakura to renounce any hope of a chance Naruto had at dating her. But today, it was strangely quiet. Sakura, for the first time in her life, realized that Sasuke was a bad conversation piece. She had talked at him for so long that her throat was starting to get soar and she no longer had anything to say. At best she could only hope to get a "hn" or a "hmph" out of the Uchiha prodigy, who only wanted to be left alone to brood and scheme. But even said Uchiha prodigy could not help but feel annoyed by the disturbing lack of conversation; it left a tension that permeated in the air and propagated into the soul.

This was the scene to which Kakashi arrived; Naruto quietly thinking to himself, Sakura repeatedly opening her mouth and turning towards Sasuke as if to say something only to close her mouth upon realizing that she had nothing to say, and Sasuke actually stooping so low as to consider conversing with Naruto. Kakashi could swear that a bead of sweat ran down his brow under this strange new tension that interfered with the team's dynamic.

Hiding his inner feelings, Kakashi crinkled his visible eye light-heartedly and raised a hand. "Yo."

Naruto glanced at Kakashi as Sakura shrieked out "YOU'RE LATE!" Sasuke grunted in acknowledgment.

As if his excuse was perfectly valid, Kakashi said, "Well, you see I was on my way over here when I found a kitten that had climbed up a tree –"

"LIAR!" Naruto winced at the sudden volume; normally it would not have bothered him since he was used to his own loud voice, but having not said much all day, his eardrums were not prepared to meet their demise at the end of a kunoichi's yell – particularly not one that Naruto suddenly suspected was chakra empowered.

Kakashi's smile did not falter. "Anyway, I'm giving you guys the day off." Kakashi reached into his kunai pouch and produced three small scrolls. "I have some instructions for each of you on things you might find beneficial for your training. Sasuke," Kakashi said, beckoning the last Uchiha forward and handing him a scroll; "Sakura," again, Kakashi handed her a scroll; "and Naruto," Naruto stepped forward and grabbed his scroll. "Well, that's all for the day. You can spend your time as you wish. See ya!" In a poof of smoke, he was gone.

Naruto refrained from greedily opening his in order to get a look at what Kakashi had given his teammates. Naruto's eyes widened as Sasuke unrolled his scroll revealing "Elemental Affinities and Elemental Re-composition of Chakra." Despite his lack of knowledge, Naruto knew enough to know _'that's highly advanced material, beyond the normal gennin level!'_ Naruto glanced over to Sakura, who had already begun reading her scroll on the spot – and Naruto noticed with passing interest that her reading pace was twice as fast as Sasuke's, which was about twice as fast as Naruto's – which was titled "Application and Detection of Genjutsu: Subtle Alterations of Perceived Reality and Recognition of Altered Perception." From what he could see, Naruto knew that Sasuke's scroll was more advanced, though that mattered little considering genjutsu was the least touched upon branch of the ninja arts at the Ninja Academy. To put it simply, academy students lacked the control of chakra needed; most genjutsu specialists would not even discover their affinity towards that art until the chuunin rank was already achieved.

As Sasuke began walking away – and Sakura chased after him – Naruto closed his eyes in silent prayer that he would get something that would be _cool_. _'I wonder what Kakashi-sensei gave me. A new ninjutsu? I'm pretty good at that. Or maybe he gave me some tips for my taijutsu. My taijutsu is okay… well, that's not the right word… okay, it _sucks_, but it's not my worst – that's genjutsu. My genjutsu knowledge is… nonexistent. But I suck at that anyway, so maybe taijutsu. Yeah, that would make sense – he gave Sasuke ninjutsu and Sakura genjutsu, so maybe he gave me taijutsu. I wonder…'_

Naruto unrolled the scroll. His mind raced. _'What? "Proper Shinobi Conduct and Dress?" What, but, not jutsu? Is this a prank?'_ Naruto bit his lip to distract from the feeling of pain in his chest. He unrolled the scroll further and with teary eyes and furrowed brows he realized that it was no joke. He could barely read the words as he failed to prevent his eyes from watering, but he continued reading. The information _was_ useful; in the academy, the teachers largely ignored Naruto and nobody had ever taken him aside to give him the right kind of help except to some extent Iruka, but Naruto hated being lectured at as Iruka would do until only recently – only after that fateful night where Mizuki revealed the secret – and it was only until after that night that Naruto would even consider taking Iruka's words to heart since prior to that he believed Iruka disliked him. No, rather than helping him, the teachers would always point to the "shinobi rules," almost all of which were vague and not entirely comprehendible for someone like Naruto who had nobody to explain what the rules actually _mean_.

But the knowledge that what Kakashi had given him was not useless was not enough to squelch Naruto's pain; he wanted a jutsu or a training program, something that would help him fight better. Deep down inside, Naruto knew that Sasuke was more prepared to begin training in elemental manipulation and Sakura was vastly more prepared to begin training in genjutsu, but Naruto realized that he was _not_ useless. It was he who succeeded in defeating Haku, even if it was through Kyuubi's power.

Naruto rolled up the scroll and shoved it in his pocket. Wiping away his tears, Naruto strengthened his resolve. He would talk to Sandaime. Perhaps he could get another look at the Forbidden Scroll – he was sure that he had seen some techniques in there that worked in conjunction with **Kage Bunshin**, and those would be very helpful for him. Clenching his fists, Naruto made his way to the market district. He would follow Kakashi's advice, but ultimately, unless Kakashi showed him more, he would find a new sensei.

From the edge of the tree line, Kakashi watched as Naruto leaved. 'It had to be done,' Kakashi though, oblivious to _why_ Naruto was angry. It was not because Naruto did not want what Kakashi had offered, but because of what Kakashi did not offer.

XXXXX

"AND STAY OUT!"

Naruto sighed as he exited yet another shop. His luck was not very good today; in the village, there were some people who would just ignore him or glare at him and then there were some people who would openly hate him. Despite Naruto's _un_popularity, the latter group was quite small – Sandaime was very harsh at dealing with people who even hinted at what Naruto was, so most people were too afraid that they might let a word like "demon" slip out.

Today, however, it seemed that everyone was against him. Naruto entered another shop, this one carrying little in the way of clothing, focusing more on shinobi equipment than apparel. The store owner – reading a certain little orange book – briefly glared at Naruto before turning his attention back to the pornography.

'Finally,' Naruto thought. It was a sad reality that Naruto faced – one where he was not welcomed by most his home village.

XXXXX

From a tree overlooking the "Uchiha District" of Konoha, Kakashi watched as Sasuke put chakra into a special piece of paper used for determining the elemental affinity of its user. The paper crumpled and burned.

'_The affinity to fire is to be expected from an Uchiha, but the affinity to lightning is a pleasant surprise. It's stronger than his affinity to fire, which he has already learned to manipulate. It looks like I have found the successor for my technique, __**Chidori**__. He's not quite ready yet, but soon…'_

XXXXX

A wizened old man sat behind a desk. His name was Sarutobi, but he was better known as "The Professor," Sandaime Hokage. In front of him stood a boy, one who would be hardly recognizeable to most of Konoha.

Uzumaki Naruto had worn an orange jumpsuit for so long that he was identified by it. Now, wearing midnight blue shinobi pants with a matching tee-shirt that had a burnt orange Konoha "Leaf-Mark" on the front, a forest green jacket overtop, and his hitai-ate tied over his head like a bandana, obscuring most of his blond locks from view, Naruto was almost unrecognizable as the prankster child who painted the Hokage Monument.

The old man pulled his pipe from his mouth. "Naruto, what brings you to me today?" The Hokage, meanwhile, was contemplating Naruto's new appearance; he marveled at how much Naruto _looked_ like a shinobi now.

"Oji-san," Naruto started, "no, Hokage-sama," Sandaime raised an eyebrow, "I was wondering if I could take another look at the Forbidden Scroll."

Sandaime placed his pipe back into his mouth in thought. "Why do you want to see the scroll again, Naruto?"

Naruto sighed. "Kakashi-sensei hasn't shown me any new techniques. I mean, I'm thankful for the help he gives me – like he told me what to look for in terms of clothing and showed me pictures for how to properly sow hidden weapons into them," Naruto demonstrated by flicking his wrist, causing a kunai to drop down out of his jacket sleeve and into his hand, "but I want to learn new techniques. Whenever I ask him, he just tells me to work on my chakra control or my taijutsu and tells me my basics are a mess – and I know they are – but I can't develop like this. Everybody talks at me, but I need them to show me what to do. I can't figure things out when people talk at me."

The Sandaime nodded in thought. "I see. Yes, I suppose that makes sense; you're not an auditory learner. You seem to be a kinesthetic learner." Naruto opened his mouth to ask what that meant, but Sandaime answered the unspoken question, "That means you learn with your body; you learn by doing."

Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly and gave a half-hearted smile. "Yeah, I guess. But in the scroll I saw some techniques that seem to work with **Kage Bunshin**, so that's why I was wondering if you could let me see it again."

Sandaime nodded. "Unfortunately I cannot. The Forbidden Scroll is not something that can be taken lightly. Those techniques are marked that way for a reason. Still, maybe I could try talking with Kakashi and if the problem continues –"

"Ahem," Sandaime was interrupted by Ebisu at the door. "Pardon me, but I believe I may be of some assistance."

Shock covered Naruto's face; he did not want the whole world to know of his problems. The words escaped his lips before he even realized he said them: "How long have you been there?"

"I'm sorry for eaves dropping. I came at the point when where you said that Kakashi hasn't shown you new techniques, but I believe I may be able to help."

Naruto noted that Ebisu's features did not display the past disdain the "elite teacher" had for the demon vessel. Nevertheless, Naruto had to be sure. "Why are you helping me? I thought you hated me?"

"'You better prepare yourself," Ebisu quoted, "if you want an incredible name like Hokage that everyone will acknowledge, there ain't going to be any short-cuts.' Because of that line, Konohamaru has begun taking his training seriously, and because of that line, I realized just how human you are." Not wanting to invoke the wrath of Sandaime, who was listening eagerly to this exchange, Ebisu asked, "Are you aware…?"

"Of Kyuubi?" Naruto finished.

Ebisu nodded. "Then you have a right to know… you may be the first demon vessel in the history of the Leaf, but you are not the first demon vessel in the shinobi world."

Naruto felt like he was hit by a freight train. He was not alone. Haku was viewed as a monster, but Haku was not like Naruto either; Naruto's inner demons were very real – 'and there are others just like me!'

"In the past, many shinobi nations have fought wars of the 'rights' to acquiring demons to seal into humans. These demon vessels, called jinchuuriki, are often times unstable killing machines that hate other people. They do not differentiate between friends and foes and they are thought of as weapons. It's unfortunate, but nobody except a jinchuuriki can understand what it is like to be a jinchuuriki."

"I see…" Naruto spoke, barely above a whisper. Naruto clenched his fists. He was angry, but not so much at Konoha; he was angry that people like him were cast aside to this fate and would be forced to endure a life as a tool. It reminded him of Haku, except even Haku had somebody who _did_ care, even if Zabuza had a weird way of showing it.

Ebisu saw these emotions play across Naruto's face, he saw Naruto clench his fists, and despite everything, he saw resolve. He failed to contain his smile. "The seal that Yondaime-sama made is undoubtedly the most sophisticated seal in existence, but the beast trapped inside is the most powerful – a beast that has never been sealed before. That is why I had my past misgivings and that is why I will help you. There are perhaps only two people alive who truly understand that seal on your belly. One is Sandaime-sama, who is too busy as Hokage to train you, and the other is Sandaime-sama's student and Yondaime-sama's sensei, Jiraiya-sama of the Densetsu no Sannin (Legendary Three Ninjas), also known as the Gama-Sennin (Toad Hermit) and the author of the series, _Icha Icha Paradise_. Sandaime-sama, with your permission I'd like to take Naruto-kun on a training journey to find Jiraiya-sama."

Sandaime sighed. He did not want to say this, but "I'm afraid that I have not been able to get in touch with my student for several months."

"Well, ahem," Ebisu, now sporting a blush, pulled a flier out from behind his back. Naruto noticed that the flier was about a book signing coming up in Tanzaku City. He also noticed that the flier had the face of a weird looking man on it with spiky white hair and red face-paint that looked like tear-marks running down from his eyes – and that man was holding a certain familiar orange book.

A shout was heard throughout Konoha. "WHAT?! YONDAIME HOKAGE-SAMA'S TEACHER WAS A PERVERT?!"

XXXXX

AN: I'll try to get an update out for Naruto of the Sharingan soon as well. This update was short but it does the trick. The events of this chapter are easy to overlook, but important tells of what's to come. Naruto will advance faster than in canon. Sasuke will still learn Chidori, but I found it weak how in canon he was using fire and lightning techniques and yet he was not shown learning elemental re-composition of chakra, so this is sort of a prelude to that. Sakura won't be particularly more advanced than in canon either, but she will be more adept at genjutsu detection.

I dislike how many people will pick up the story from somewhere in the middle of part 1 canon and suddenly make it so that Team 7's members outright detest Naruto and neglect him. What I did here was have him pushed aside ever so slightly without showing outright favoritism. Team 7 takes Naruto for granted. My Kakashi here, for all his genius, does not truly understand Naruto and is oblivious of him without meaning to be. Also, rather than taking Sasuke directly under his wing to prevent him from falling into the hands of Orochimaru, he's already thinking about Sasuke as his protégé. My Sakura takes him for granted not realizing that she does the same things to Sasuke that annoyed her when Naruto did that to her. My Sasuke is too gung-ho trying to acquire power to develop friendship, even though at this point in time, his heart yearns for it.

In other words, I feel that I have succeeded in Team 7 bashing in a "realistic" fashion.

About the planned sequel Path of Revenge: many have expressed a lack of interest in it, I suspect since Sasuke has a starring role. Do not be fooled – Sasuke will NOT be a hero. In fact, if anything, he will be the main villain. When he escapes from Konoha, he will do something that really pisses Naruto off. Sasuke's revenge will lead Naruto onto a path of revenge as Naruto seeks to end the Uchiha line entirely (he already hates Itachi – he's recognized that in another life, he and Sasuke could have been friends – and he will truly hate Sasuke as well). A lot of it will be from Sasuke's perspective, but it won't paint a pleasant picture of him.

You'll see the world through the eyes of an archetypical avenger, the "good guy turned EVIL." All the while, Naruto is chasing after him.

I don't know exactly how much will be from Naruto's perspective and how much will be from Sasuke's; I just know that it will be a darker twist to the "Path of" trilogy.


	3. The Measure of a Man

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto. It is owned by Kishimoto Masashi and published by Jump Comics.

**Warning:** This story is rated T for violence, language and potential sexual situations.

**Feedback:** You can review anonymously. Please feel free to give me your input through review or private message. I read all the feedback I get. I only ask that you do not make demands and do not flame.

"Character speech"

'_Character thoughts'_

"**Demon or large summon speech or jutsu name announced"**

'_**Demon or large summon thoughts or jutsu name thought'**_

XXXXX

**Path of Hatred**

**Chapter 3 – The Measure of a Man**

XXXXX

A shout was heard throughout Konoha. "WHAT?! YONDAIME HOKAGE-SAMA'S TEACHER WAS A PERVERT?!"

Both Ebisu and the Sandaime winced at the volume. "Not so loud," Sandaime called out, "my old ears can't take it."

Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry, it's just that… well… why are so many good shinobi perverts? Was Yondaime a pervert?"

"Naruto, I don't think –"

Ebisu was cut-off by Sandaime. "It's quite alright. No, to my knowledge, Yondaime was not a pervert. It was quite amusing really since he was somewhat of a heart-throb and yet he did not date very often."

Before Naruto even realized what he was saying, he asked, "Yondaime wasn't a stuck-up bastard like Sasuke, was he? Because I wouldn't have respect for him anymore if he was."

Ebisu choked on his own breath; the old Hokage merely chuckled. "No, Yondaime-dono wasn't a 'stuck-up bastard' as you put it. He was the type of man who valued everyone in Konoha. The sealing jutsu he used to seal the Kyuubi inside of you not only claimed his life, but his afterlife as well." The old man paused, allowing the depth of the words to seek in. Even now the Yondaime was suffering through eternal damnation, a heavy price to pay just to seal something. "That was the extent to which Yondaime was willing to go to protect this village."

Naruto hung his head a bit. The Hokage was hitting frighteningly close to the question seeded in the back of Naruto's mind. Naruto chose to voice these thoughts. In a rare, quiet tone he asked, "But why did he choose me? What am I, chopped liver? Couldn't he have left me with something, anything? I-I never had anything, no family, no inheritance, nothing. Why did he choose me of all people as the _jinchuuriki_," Naruto emphasized with venom, "of that stupid fox?"

Ebisu eyed his leader curiously; this was a question that many jounin had asked. They all knew that Naruto was _supposed_ to be thought of as a hero – that was Yondaime's dying request – but if this were true, what did the Yondaime leave for Naruto to have? Certainly their leader was not all talk; just thinking those thoughts was a damnable offense in the eyes of many. Babies do not grow on trees and they do not mysteriously appear, especially not in ninja villages, yet Naruto's past was shrouded in mystery. No one had stepped forward to claim Naruto and no one knew where he came from. These seeds of doubt left credence for rumors to spread of the Yondaime sealing the Kyuubi into a human form, though any shinobi adept in the sealing arts knew better. Still, merely knowing better was not enough.

The old man sighed and pulled down a bit on the brim of his hat; he was not comfortable with discussing this issue, but Naruto had a right to know at least some of the truth. "Naruto, there were special circumstances that you met. I'm afraid that I cannot divulge everything to you at this point in time, but I can tell you some of it. Two of the conditions for choosing a container for the Kyuubi were that the individual needed to be a newborn and the individual needed to have a large amount of chakra so that the overflow from the seal into your body would have as small an effect on you as possible. Essentially, the seal has to continually leak some of Kyuubi's chakra into you; otherwise Kyuubi would be able to build up enough chakra on the other side to break the seal apart. This overflow relieves the pressure on the seal and having a large body of chakra to call your own essentially dilutes the influence Kyuubi could have on you."

'_I see,'_ Ebisu thought as he pushed up his glasses. _'Truly that seal is amazing. From what Sandaime-sama has said, it seems that if the Kyuubi were to attempt to build up a large mass of chakra, the seal would cause a great amount of it to spill into Naruto and ultimately the Kyuubi would run out of chakra before the seal could be torn down.' _Ebisu had to restrain himself from whistling uncharacteristically._ 'That seal is even more powerful than I imagined – it reacts to the circumstances as if it were alive!'_

Naruto, meanwhile, scratched the side of his head with a finger. "I didn't really understand all that, but basically you're saying that Yondaime chose me because I would be harder than anyone else for the Kyuubi to possess, right?"

"Essentially, yes," the man confirmed. "As for your other question about what he left you, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to tell you. Your living expenses even right now are subsidized by the funds that Yondaime-dono left in your name. That is why you have never had to pay rent or utilities." Naruto scratched his head sheepishly; he had assumed that those bills were just covered by the standard orphan's fund or even from Sandaime himself; after all, the old Hokage had always been extra nice to him. "By the time you become a chuunin or turn sixteen, which ever comes first, the remainder of the fund will be turned over to you. That fund includes all of Yondaime-dono's liquid assets – meaning money – as well as several scrolls left in your name. Nobody knows what any of those scrolls contain. However, I can leave you this…"

Sandaime reached down into a drawer of his desk, producing a small scroll, which he tossed over to Naruto. Unrolling the scroll, Naruto read aloud. "Dear Naruto, since you have been given this scroll, you already know of what I did. Please understand that I had to do it. Forgive me. Hopefully, the rest of the inheritance that I have passed on to you will make its way into your hands, but just in case, smear some blood across this seal." Naruto bit on his thumb and then smeared over a circular shaped seal. Out popped a wad of cash. By no means did this "inheritance" make Naruto rich, but it was more than enough to cover Naruto's meager expenses for a number of months. For someone like Naruto, who hardly ever had any money it was like _'free ramen for a whole year!'_

"Thanks old man!" Naruto grinned. Life was feeling just a little bit better already.

Ebisu was too caught up mentally counting the money to catch Naruto's disrespectful remark. _'Interesting, Yondaime-sama left Naruto just about the right amount to leave this village and start up a new life as a civilian elsewhere. Granted, he didn't take into account inflation…'_

Sandaime's thoughts were along similar lines. _'It's not much, but the Yondaime never was a very wealthy man. He lived in a small condo much like Naruto's apartment until he got this job, and then he was able to sell his condo and move in here where the Hokage has free housing available. By the end of his life, he could afford to live well, but he started with nothing, just like Naruto.'_ Indeed, Naruto reminded the aged Hokage of his now deceased successor in many ways. This, perhaps along with feelings of guilt, would be Naruto's only shot – and perhaps even Konoha's as well – of having a Sannin take another apprentice. With Orochimaru turned traitor and Tsunade unable to move on from her past, Jiraiya was Sandaime's only hope lest his legacy end with a bunch of delinquents. It was in Naruto's generation that Sandaime would place his trust, and above all others, Naruto himself.

With a sorrowful heart, the Sandaime realized that Naruto – that seemingly happy boy whose eyes glowed with pride and joy at the thought of his hero actually leaving his possessions to Naruto – had been placed with yet more weight on his shoulders. _'I only hope that this added burden is not too much to bear.'_ Even now, sadness and a newfound anger could be found, if one were looking close enough, in the depths of Naruto's eyes.

"Ahem," the Sandaime coughed into his hand garnering the attention of the other two occupants of the room. "While I'm glad to be of service Naruto, this meeting has dragged on too long and I have…" the Sandaime looked over at the pile of papers seated neatly on his desk before shivering, "some paperwork that needs to be taken care of. You'll have to leave tomorrow morning if you plan to make the book signing. I'll be assigning this as a C-ranked mission to bring Jiraiya back to Konoha. Until then, you'll be relieved of the responsibilities that come with being placed on Team Seven. Dismissed and may good luck be with you."

Naruto grinned at the aged man. "I'll bring back the pervert. You can count on it ojii-sama!"

Ebisu looked peeved at Naruto's informality, but the Hokage's chuckling dismissed those feelings. Ebisu raised an eyebrow. As kind as the old Hokage was, he was still a great shinobi whose mere presence demanded respect. The old man simply replied, "That's the first time he's called me ojii-_sama_. Coming from Naruto, that's a great sign of respect."

Ebisu merely shook his head, a small grin making its way to his face. He had hoped to train Naruto in etiquette but perhaps that was something Naruto would never learn. More importantly, until Naruto earned respect as a competent shinobi, etiquette would never get him anywhere, not with the people from Konoha and most certainly not with foreign dignitaries who cared about titles alone. It was in those regards that Ebisu dismissed that train of thought entirely.

No, there was one more important thing Ebisu would need to assist Naruto in his training. _'Now where to start,'_ Ebisu thought grimly. "Hokage-sama, I have read that a jinchuuriki can utilize the power of their biju by 'resonating with it.' If so, then wouldn't that mean that to use 'it's' power Naruto would have to experience feelings of deep hatred?"

Sandaime stood up from his desk and walked over towards the window, looking down on his great village. He placed his smoking pipe in his mouth and inhaled deeply, taking the time to puff out smoke in a shape that vaguely resembled the "Konoha Leaf Mark" before pulling it out to speak. "In a way, yes. All the biju are spirits that embody forces of this world that are a natural part of living things. Of these beasts, the one most shrouded in mystery is the Kyuubi, who throughout history has been known to awaken and destroy things on a whim before mysteriously disappearing again. Few have ever actually met the Kyuubi and survived, and fewer still have actually spoken with it. One of those people was none other than Uchiha Madara and according to what little he left behind about his experiences with the Kyuubi, it abides by these principles just as the other biju do."

The Sandaime took a pause, glancing back at Ebisu. "The Kyuubi is known as the beast of calamity and it wreaks havoc upon any who stand in its wake."

XXXXX

All the evidence left that the sun had fallen was the pink illumination of the evening sky when Naruto entered Ichiraku's for the second time in the day.

"Oi, ossan (old man)," Naruto called, "miso ramen please!"

Ayame looked at her visitor and dropped the bowl of ramen she was clearing off the table stand. It shattered on the ground. "N-Naruto?"

"In the flesh," he replied back with a grin.

She blushed. This was not the same Naruto who left their stand this morning. The Naruto they had seen earlier looked tired and depressed; the word "dreary" should not have been one to describe Naruto and yet it was. The Naruto they had seen earlier sported a neon orange jumpsuit, apparel meant to attract attention despite his ninja life. And most importantly, the Naruto they had seen earlier needed someone to catch him as he fell.

This Naruto radiated the confidence of the old Naruto, the one that the old ramen chef Teuchi and his daughter Ayame had known before that fateful mission to Wave, yet without the childish desire to be the center of attention. And, for once, he actually looked handsome, despite green not being his best color.

"You look different," she commented.

He grinned cheekily. "I feel different."

She tilted her head questioningly. "What happened to you?"

"Got a new sensei and a new mission," he cryptically replied. He had heard once that girls like an enigma. Granted, he felt that he was one before… _'Seriously, an orange wearing ninja? What's not mysterious about that?'_

She arched an eyebrow and looked at him skeptically as he made a bid towards his favorite stool. "But green?"

Teuchi had been vying for his chance to see what was going on since the moment the conversation had started. Now he simply couldn't resist. Ignoring the boiling pot of ramen for a second, he peered over his shoulder towards Naruto. "Green? What happened to you, get a girlfriend or something?"

Naruto sputtered. There was no way, just no way, that _he_ would sellout and wear green just for some girl, not even "Sakura-chan" – especially not now.

"A girlfriend? I'm going to be jealous," Ayame said with a fake pout. Deep within her mirth filled eyes, something flashed that made Naruto feel like he was being examined under a microscope. Somehow, his reply to her statement mattered, as if it was a measure of how much a man he was.

This challenge was new to him; girls would usually measure him the moment they saw him. Usually, it was with a sneer, on occasion it was with pity, and when he was younger it sometimes was with the same look a girl would give her favorite teddy bear – a piece of property kept because it was "kawaii (cute)." Then of course there was Hinata, who would sometimes strangely sneak glances his way when she thought he wasn't looking. He was not retarded, he knew she did it – though not nearly to the extent he should have known – but he could not figure out why. However, since she blushed at just about any sort of attention, he came to the conclusion that she was a weird, timid girl who was uncomfortable with him not because adults were, but because he was her exact opposite and it embarrassed her. He was not far from the truth as she was embarrassed because of her thoughts of getting his attention, which she sought because he was her opposite, and considering those traits – specifically Naruto's loud and brash assertiveness – desirable, she saw Naruto himself as desirable.

But what Naruto craved was not a look of pity, nor did he crave to be looked at like a favorite teddy bear or even be observed from afar. In truth, he did not even desire Sasuke's position, where the brooding raven-haired child would be eyed like a piece of meat. He wanted someone, anyone, to see him as just him, measuring him by his own genuine qualities. He had dreamed that Sakura would see him this way and she would become his girlfriend. He had dreamed that other people would see him this way and they would become friends to him, brothers and sisters.

But here and now, Ayame – someone he took for granted as the cute girl who would treat humanly as she served him ramen – was giving him that chance. For Naruto, the game was on. He grinned.

"You know," he said in what he thought was his most hip and cool tone, "green may not be my best color, but it's what I'll be forced to wear when I earn my chuunin vest. I might as well get used to it."

Ayame giggled and then she and Teuchi broke out into outright laughter. Naruto's smile almost faltered, but the laughter was contagious. He realized they were not laughing at him, but at his put-on act of coolness. It was something Sasuke might do and the girls would swoon all over him for it, but it just wasn't a _Naruto_ thing to do – Naruto's attempts at being cool were desperate pleas for attention as if he were waving a giant sign saying "I'm here, look at me."

"Th-that… that made my day." Ayame wiped the tears from her eyes, her voice wavering as it threatened to break out into laughter yet again. "Oh man…" she started before realizing that she was standing over a broken bowl still. "Oh… oh shoot. I've got to clean this up."

Naruto held up his hand gesturing for her to stop. "Watch this! **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu** (Shadow Clone Technique… surely you guys know that by now)!"

Two identical clones of Naruto phased into existence next to him and right away went to work cleaning up the pieces of ceramic from the broken bowl. Ayame blinked at the clones, real, carbon copies of Naruto doing her work for her. Experimentally, she flicked one of them on the forehead.

"Ow!" Ayame nearly jumped back as the clone rubbed its head and glared at her. The other clone glared at the first. "Idiot, don't spoil our chances!"

Ayame blinked again and turned her head to Naruto who, in this rare moment, looked ready to shrink back into a corner as he held a hand to cover his face. From beneath it Ayame could see the crimson blush of his cheeks.

Naruto's eyes caught Ayame's and his blush redoubled under her scrutinizing gaze. He was half expecting her to smash him over the head, call him a pervert and then throw him out of the ramen stand. Instead, she merely smiled, and as if the clones had never said anything asked, "That's a neat trick, can you teach it to me?"

Naruto blinked for a moment, caught off-guard by the sudden question. "I-I guess. I mean, uhm, it's a forbidden technique, and you'll have to learn all about chakra first, but, uh, yeah, I could teach you. I mean, uhm, if that's what you want."

Naruto's heart skipped a beat as she opened her mouth. "I'd love that."

Relief flooded through Naruto. He was accepted. _She_ wanted to spend time with _him_. It was not a date, but it was something, and something is just what Naruto was lacking.

For a moment, the world seemed lost to Naruto as he contemplated what this meant. It was the first time he could ever remember having a friendly get together with someone he could count as a friend and perhaps more. Whether that "and more" was in a sisterly way or a romantic way he had not decided, but what he did know was the feeling of all his last thoughts of Sakura blasting out the window. He was not a single man on the prowl, but he was not a man obligated to live and die for one girl – or at least not that one girl as he imagined he _would _someday be married to someone he would live and die for. He could not remember how or why he obligated himself to Sakura in that way, but at some point he had, and now those feelings were gone.

XXX Flashback XXX

"I'm serious," she breathed out, a blush now adorning her cheeks. Shyly, she tilted her head down somewhat, looking up into his eyes from underneath, a magic sparkle of hope and dirty innocence glistening from within them. "I would do anything." Her shoulders drew in, hinting at her poorly veiled insecurity yet giving her a cuter image all the same. "Because I like you…"

As she leaned in for a kiss, Naruto's mouth hung somewhat open and his eyes were as wide as saucers, a slight blush adorning his cheeks as he realized, _'I finally understand why I like her… in a way, she's like me.'_

XXX End Flashback XXX

He realized that his old feelings for Sakura were no different than what she felt for Sasuke. Above all else, those feelings were empty. It was a crush and nothing about it was real except for how empty it was. Naruto realized that Sasuke's thoughts of revenge were no different. _'After Sasuke kills his brother, then what? There's nothing left. After Sakura gets Sasuke, then what? She worships him and either she will be forced to realize his humanity or she will live an empty life praying to a mortal god.'_

His feelings for Ayame were nothing like that. Sure, he did fancy her – she was beautiful! But what mattered was that she saw him for who he was and acknowledged him, desiring his companionship and whether it was as a brother, a lover, or simply a friend, he was ecstatic that someone from his generation, even if she were older, would see him for who he was and seek his attention.

His blush renewed just in time for the old ramen chef to put a steaming hot ramen bowl at his place. "Ramen's on!"

Both he and Ayame looked at it and blinked, caught off guard by the sudden intrusion in their respective thoughts, Naruto sorting out his feelings for her and her wondering what shinobi training entailed and if Naruto would get in trouble for revealing village secrets to her. Despite the prevalence of trained shinobi within the village, civilians were kept rather oblivious of not only what shinobi training entailed, but of what shinobi were capable of as well.

However, being chefs by training, there was one aspect of shinobi life that the Ichiraku's knew more about than Naruto: dieting. Staring down at his ramen bowl, Naruto was reminded of the nutritional information Kakashi had left in his scroll. Unfortunately, Kakashi had only left Naruto with a basic food pyramid and information about what food groups Naruto should eat from at what times of day, caloric intake, vitamin and nutrient intake, and foods that should be avoided entirely. While Kakashi assumed Naruto's knowledge about most things was extremely limited, in this rare instance Kakashi had overestimated Naruto's ability. This amounted to an important question about what various food groups actually entailed: "Hey, uhm, ossan, do noodles count as a vegetable?"

The old man gaped at Naruto, silently begging for this to be a joke. Ayame was doing her best impression of a fish. "Wh-what?" The older girl tried to remind herself that Naruto lived alone, but she could not help but feel disbelief. "Naruto, noodles aren't a vegetable. What have you been eating all these years?"

Naruto's face reddened, a nervous smile gracing his lips. "I, uhm, I eat ramen I guess."

Teuchi barely restrained himself from saying "Duh!" Why else would someone eat at a ramen stand? "We know that, but what else do you eat?"

Naruto glanced between Teuchi and Ayame. Ramen had seemed like a perfectly healthy meal _before_. Now that he thought about it, he realized that he was the only person who ate ramen with _that_ much regularity, but at least it was cheap – not that Naruto was _that_ broke, but he traded quality of food for quantity; he always felt so damn hungry, though for the first time it occurred to him that _'I'm eating for two.'_

Indeed, Naruto ate enough on a regular basis to make anybody else morbidly obese. This was a consequence of his stamina, partially given to him by the fox. Physical energy requires ATP, the chemical that transports energy for metabolism on a cellular level. ATP of course requires food intake. To produce such a substantial amount of chakra, Naruto's body required high levels of ATP and thus large quantities of food.

Of course, Naruto did not understand anything about biology – or for that matter sealing – but what Naruto did know was that he had a tenant leasing space in his belly and somehow, because of this, he required more food than normal people, a disconcerting thought.

Instinctively, Naruto's right hand shot behind his head, rubbing the bottom of his hairline. "I, uhm, eat ramen and cereal. And I drink a little milk. That's about it, really…"

The two Ichiraku's looked at each other and exchanged grimaces. Of course they knew that Naruto loved ramen, but to eat nothing else?

Perhaps a gentle push was in order. Ayame grinned innocently. "Well no wonder you're so short if all you eat is ramen."

Naruto gawked at her. _'Did she just make fun of my height?'_

She walked up next to him and held her hand out. "See? I'm still a whole head taller than you." She held her hand over Naruto's head at _her_ height.

Naruto frowned. Of course he knew he was short, but it was a bit of a sore point that most people would not only look down on him metaphorically, but physically as well. An idea came to mind.

Ayame gasped as Naruto jumped, flipping himself in midair and applying chakra to his feet. Naruto flashed a foxy grin at the palpable shock on her face. She had of course seen all the ninja jump across rooftops, but never had she seen someone just hang there on a ceiling. She had not even realized that her hands instinctively made their way to her heart, now beating fast in surprise.

Playfully, he told her, "Now I'm a head higher than you! How's the air down there?" She grinned and giggled, and pretty soon she and Naruto were outright laughing together.

As Naruto's laughter died down, he yet again rubbed the back of his head. Startling Ayame, he flipped down grabbing a pair of chopsticks mid-flip before landing perfectly on his stool. Naruto smiled and dug into his food with a cry of "Itadakimasu!"

For the first time, Ayame truly saw the man that Naruto was. To her, he was always a "cute kid," but despite the clumsiness he showed in his day-to-day life, she truly saw for the first time that he was more than just a child playing ninja; he was a competent and surprisingly powerful warrior. This was the man who he was becoming. This was the man who he _was_. And most importantly, he was not all smoke and mirrors – he was the real deal and he would climb to unfathomable heights.

XXXXX

The moonlight bathed the Village Hidden in the Leaves with an eerily peaceful quality. The aged village leader stood on the roof of the Hokage Tower, observing the Hokage Monument in this life. He noted that while the Yondaime's silhouette always looked incredibly serious – very different from the way the man actually was – now he seemed to be downright scowling as if unhappy of the fate befallen upon his legacy.

A figure jumped in behind the Hokage, who stood unmoving, his robe flapping in the sudden gust of wind this new person carried. "You're late as usual Kakashi. Someday your tardiness will cost you."

The man shrugged, merely pulling out a little orange book from his kunai pouch. "You called for me?"

The old man sighed, disappointed in the cycloptic jounin. His ears faintly caught the sound of snickering from the shadows of the rooftop, undoubtedly one of his hidden ANBU guardsmen finding a cheap laugh at Hatake Kakashi's expense. Sarutobi, the man praised as the greatest of all shinobi, turned to face his late successor's protégé. "I've sent Naruto on a mission outside this village. Until he returns, his duties as a part of Team Seven will be suspended. I trust you understand that this means no more C-rank missions for awhile."

Kakashi nodded absent-mindedly. "If I may ask, what kind of mission is it?"

Kakashi's eyes lifted from his book, gazing into the Sandaime's own. "A retrieval mission. I've asked Naruto to bring back my student Jiraiya."

Most would have been caught by surprise by the implications of that statement; most were not Kakashi. Again he nodded absent-mindedly. "Naruto is number one at surprising people and he's greatly determined. If anyone can do it, it's Naruto. Is that all?"

The Hokage sighed again, not amused by the disrespectfulness of reading a perverted novel in his presence, even if he himself was a staunch reader of the same series. Kakashi could only get away with these kinds of things since he was the prodigal Sharingan-wielding student of the Yondaime. Still, Sarutobi wished now that he had taken a more active role in Kakashi's development; the scarecrow look-alike easily possessed the shinobi ability to become a Hokage, but he lacked the drive or interest, immersing himself in his past woes and the pleasures of pornography. "Yes, that is all."

Kakashi nodded and took off. Sandaime watched his retreating form. _'Kakashi… what Minato would think of you now… _he_ is only number one at surprising you because you allow yourself to be taken by surprise rather than taking the time to understand him.'_

XXXXX

As dawn spread her fingertips of rose, the sun's first light found Ebisu resting his back against the village gate studying a map and brochures, all of which concerned Jiraiya's book signing.

Two figures approached, both dressed in blue and green garb. The younger was a blond haired youth instantaneously recognizable as the one and only Kyuubi jinchuuriki; the elder was a chuunin, if the flak jacket was of any indication, and had a scar that ran across the bridge of his nose. Ebisu recognized the man as Umino Iruka, one of the instructors from the academy.

Shortly after leaving the Hokage's office, Ebisu had studied Naruto's file in great detail. Every prank, every incident and every problem concerning Naruto was in there. The disdain most people of Konoha shared for Naruto was obvious, but towards the end of the record, one name stood out as someone who genuinely cared for the demon vessel: Umino Iruka.

Iruka had more right to hate Naruto than almost anyone else. Not only did Iruka have to deal with the underlying pain of being reminded of that fateful night he lost his parents all those years ago on a daily basis, but also by the time Naruto had found his way into Iruka's classroom, the young jinchuuriki had developed a penchant for causing trouble. Indeed, Naruto's desire for attention was so strong that he had begun a pranking spree where each progressive prank was more and more serious. While none of the pranks were particularly hurtful, it was clear that had Naruto continued down that path, the pranks would have been.

In Iruka Naruto had found a kindred soul and a father figure. This fact was evident from Naruto's posture and excited chatter. And if the emotions of happiness mixed with concern on Iruka's face were genuine, then Iruka returned those feelings.

Ebisu tucked away his map and brochures into a travel pack. It was fairly small, but for an experienced shinobi, it was a lot to carry. Usually, an experienced shinobi stores objects in scrolls via sealing. Particularly large items or objects that otherwise could not be stored within a scroll could be retrieved by way of a summoning scroll that would summon the object from a different location rather than from actually _within_ the scroll. Naruto, however, had no background in seals. By carrying a travel pack of his own with a tent, a change of clothes, some rations, and some advanced reading material about seals – mainly kept for the purpose of trying to understand a seal as powerful as the **Shikki Fuujin** (Corpse Spirit Sealing Technique), though Ebisu found himself struggling with just the concepts, let alone the design – Ebisu could teach Naruto basic tricks used by gennin and rookie chuunin when going out on missions. Throwing his pack behind his back, Ebisu pushed up his sunglasses, prepared to begin this journey that Ebisu had no doubt would be adventuresome… if for no other reason than Jiraiya's habits.

Iruka approached Ebisu and held out his hand. A warm smile was splayed across Iruka's face, though Ebisu had the distinct feeling that he was being evaluated. A smile caught his lips; indeed, a good teacher could be disarming even while proctoring an examination, though, this was not often the goal.

"Umino Iruka," the chuunin introduced. "Naruto told me that you are going to be training him, Ebisu-senpai. I've heard good things about you – a special jounin with the title of 'elite teacher' is rare to find. I have also heard you trained several people who are now a part of the ANBU and are considered potential candidates for the title of Godaime Hokage if they continue developing over the next few years."

If anything, Ebisu's smile grew, curling into a bit of a smirk. _'He has done his homework I see. Perhaps someday he will earn the title of "elite teacher" himself. Though, I don't think any of my past students will make Hokage. They lack the potential of Naruto or even Konohamaru.'_ Stealing a quick glance at Naruto, Ebisu replied to Iruka, "That is indeed true, but I have even higher hopes for my current students."

An embarrassedly happy grin stretched across Naruto's face. Finally, in the form of a sensei, he found yet another source of acknowledgement.

XXXXX

"'CHA! WHERE IS HE?! I'LL KILL HIM!"

Sasuke winced at the girl's shriek of fury. Could she not ever shut up? Did she not realize that she was preventing him from thinking about the training scroll Kakashi gave him? Did she not realize that he needed power to kill Itachi?

Sakura was oblivious to all these thoughts. In her eyes, Sasuke could do no wrong. In her eyes, true love should prevail. That was why she was in a particularly terrible mood on this day; Sasuke did not make great conversation piece. To her, he seemed worse than usual. The reality was that Naruto usually distracted her just enough so that she was deluded into thinking that her time with Sasuke was well spent. Unfortunately, with Naruto leaving on a training mission, Sakura now had to spend three hours conversing with someone about as animated as a rock, and even she could see that it was going nowhere. _'Cha! That Kakashi-sensei, I'll kill him! And Naruto too! How dare he show up late!'_

Finally, the one-eyed jounin chose to reveal himself. "Ohayo," he called with a sheepish grin – of course he had heard her yelling and for once she was actually producing killer intent.

Jumping to attention, she pointed at him shrieking, "YOU'RE LATE!" Both Kakashi and Sasuke winced; yet again, she did not notice. "AND WHERE'S NARUTO? HOW DARE THAT IDIOT SKIP OUT ON US?!"

Kakashi rubbed the back of his head, borrowing Naruto's patented embarrassed gesture. "Maa, Sakura, Naruto's not coming today." He held up a finger as if he was a professor rattling off a point during a lecture. He figured it was the best way to get Sakura to respond positively. "He was assigned a mission by the Hokage."

Before Sakura could even reply – and try to reply she did until she realized that her precious wanted to speak – Sasuke said something for the first time this morning aside from "Hn" or "Get off me."

"What kind of mission?" From Sasuke's tone, several conflicting emotions were betrayed: curiosity, jealousy, and even, very faintly, concern.

Still in his "lecture mode," Kakashi replied, "A retrieval mission. Probably D-rank."

"EH?" Again Sakura shouted, "What's so special about him that he has to go on this mission without us?"

A little threateningly Kakashi replied, "Because the person he is retrieving relates to his heritage." Naruto may have been Kakashi's least favorite student, but it was entirely because Kakashi could not relate to Naruto that he felt this way. As a teacher, he was still proud and even somewhat protective. Furthermore, Naruto was a comrade and he did not at all like that Sakura seemed to have forgotten his first lesson so easily. Somehow, Kakashi got the feeling that without Naruto around, things would get distinctly worse.

XXXXX

"Eh? Why have we stopped here?"

Ebisu dropped his pack. "Training."

Naruto tossed his pack down as well. "Eh? But why here?"

Ebisu eyed the younger man. "You said yourself your basics are a mess, right? You're going to practice the next level of chakra control." Not even ten meters away was a small stream. Ebisu strode purposefully towards it. Without a second thought, he walked out on the stream as if it were just ordinary dry land. "Water walking."

Naruto gaped. It seemed so unreal to him. Naruto's mind wandered back to his mission in Wave Country; as if a light bulb had gone off in his brain, Naruto's eyes flashed in recognition – now that he thought about it, he clearly remembered Kakashi and Zabuza fighting _on_ a lake.

Naruto's expression shifted into a smile and his eyes burned with determination. "Alright!" With a yell he charged out towards the stream…

…Only to give a startled yelp as he fell in the water. Ebisu grimaced; this would take some work.

XXXXX

Over the next two days, Kakashi felt that his team's dynamic was slipping. Without Naruto to take out her frustrations on, Sakura's stress levels were through the roof. Additionally, it was clear to Kakashi that Sasuke actually _enjoyed_ the little competitions he would have with Naruto. Without that, Sasuke felt like he was being paid to be a custodian rather than a shinobi. Worse yet, Sasuke recognized that these useless missions were distracting him from his goal and there was nothing to be gained out of them. Supposedly, this training would help bolster the teamwork of Team Seven, but Sakura's idea of teamwork was pining over him for romantic attention rather than working with him as a kunoichi. She was weak; at least Naruto had stamina.

'_Naruto, I hope you'll be back soon,'_ Kakashi thought. _'I'm not sure how much longer I can take this headache.'_

Meanwhile, in Tanzaku City, a blond haired blue eyed shinobi sneezed.

XXXXX

_**AN:**_ This chapter was originally to be named "Crouching Ninja, Hidden Pervert." Unfortunately, I didn't get around to introducing Jiraiya just yet. So, now you know the chapter title for the next chapter.

This chapter, like the last, is a stepping-stone towards more important events. Naruto is slowly evolving into the man he must become. At this point in time, from the bottom of his heart he still wants acceptance, and **that is why he's not very dark yet**, but he will not at any point in this story join any evil organizations, so don't expect that. His changes are gradual. **So far, he's still very canon, just more subdued.**

"As dawn spread her fingertips of rose" is an allusion to Homer's Iliad.

I really, REALLY hope that the Naruto/Ayame moment came out okay. I was debating at first how much I should include, because I definitely don't want to rush the relationship. I started planning to wait until Naruto came back with Jiraiya in tow before anything truly interesting would happen, but as I was writing the scene it just kept going and going. Ultimately, I settled for the notion that Naruto views Ayame is a very attractive and very nice person, but because she is older than him and a civilian he feels she is out of reach (the civilian aspect of that being a lack of common ground for him to connect with her on). Obviously, he does like her, but she doesn't quite view him like that yet, but the seeds of thoughts along those lines have been planted in her.

FINALLY, Naruto's parents have been revealed in canon! However, I won't reveal their identities yet in my story. I'm going to hold those cards for later, waiting to see if there is a deeper connection between Pein and Naruto's heritage.

Now, allow me to be serious for a second: please do not post major spoilers in your reviews for this story. I read the new canon chapter every Friday (chapters are released on Thursdays and scanned and translated usually early Friday mornings), so you don't have to "remind" me of anything. If you really DO feel obligated, then send me a PM, not a review. It's different for Naruto of the Sharingan, which features spoilers through the most recent chapter of the manga in each successive chapter I release.

About Path of Revenge: I've gotten more feedback about it. It seems that people have problems with it because they feel like a Naruto who derives power from hatred would simply kill Sasuke. Naruto will have reasons for bringing Sasuke back alive. This will be a large part of why Naruto will be pissed when Sasuke leaves… Sasuke will do something that destroys Naruto's motivation to not kill Sasuke. That's a major hint, but I'll probably release chapter 1 of Revenge about the same time I end Hatred.

For those who STILL worry about it being too Sasuke-centric, my only comments are to wait until you see it before passing judgment. Don't tune it out without giving it a chance.

Also, _**POLL TIME!**_

Ayame's canon age is 4 years older than Naruto's. I feel awkward having them "do anything" in this story if I maintain that age gap as is. Maybe if he was 17 and she was 21, but 13 and 17?!?! Uh…

I mean, in some stories, I'll go with older/younger pairings, but usually there will be special circumstances. Besides that, I'm really striving to make this as realistic a divergence from canon as possible, so your choices are:

1.) Keep the age gap at 4 years, don't have them do anything beyond hand holding until Path of Revenge.

2.) Shrink the age gap down to 2 years. This would make her 15 and him 13. This is much more manageable.

Either way, there are **NO** lemons in this story. In fact, this whole series will probably be rated T.

**Also, a teaser on a new fic**; it's a romantic adventure/humor story called **Naruto's Seven Deadly Wives**. I'm working on it with drag-eart and LD 1449. Naruto will find his muse in the form of the seven deadly sins. If you read my profile, you may have an idea about what the project entails, but some significant changes were made. Just a fair warning, it will contain mature themes and almost definitely be M rated. Here's the official summary:

_Mortality... it is a disgusting notion Kyuubi discovers, and as such he promises that he will not allow himself to fade quietly into the pages of history..._


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